Crude oil production drops below budget’s target

Nigeria’s crude oil production has declined by 56,000 barrels per day (bpd) from the 1.694 barrels per day it recorded in March to 1.637 bpd in April, according to the latest report of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The country has however, suffered a shortfall of 563,000 bpd from the 2.2 million barrels per day crude oil output pegged by the Federal Government in the 2016 budget.

Nigeria’s crude oil production decline has helped boost prices to more than two per cent higher than it recorded since November 2015 on the back of more disruption to supplies from Nigeria.

The country’s crude oil output has been on the decline since last year, dropping from 1.8 mbpd it recorded in the better part of 2015 to 1.7mbpd in January this year before the latest development, which was spurred by pipeline vandals. Read more